A Test of Wills

Ian Rutledge returns to his career at Scotland Yard after years fighting in the First World War. Unknown to his colleagues he is still suffering from shell shock, and is burdened with the guilt of having had executed a young soldier on the battlefield for refusing to fight. A jealous colleague has learned of his secret and has managed to have Rutledge assigned to a difficult case which could spell disaster for Rutledge whatever the outcome. A retired officer has been murdered, and Rutledge goes to investigate.

Difficult to follow the narrator

Inspector Rutledge returns to his position at Scotland Yard after long and horrendous combat service as an officer in World War I. He has been damaged..Show More » in soul and psyche, and in ways that make him one of the most fascinating detectives in the genre. This first book in the series is truly special, well written, compelling, and different.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend listening to this narration. Even though I've read the book (albeit a number of years ago), I found myself totally confused almost from the beginning as to which character was speaking. We become so used to narrators who handle multiple-character dialog well (even if they don't always sound like we think a beloved character should) that it's a shock to listen to someone with this little skill at voice differentiation. In scenes where Rutledge is conducting interviews, it's almost impossible to follow the flow of questions and answers and the vital information (the plot is fairly complicated) that emerges from these interviews.

There's nothing "wrong" with Giles's voice, he just doesn't use it well. Read the book, skip this audio.

Wings of Fire: Ian Rutledge, Book 2

When reclusive war poet Olivia Marlowe and her half-brother, Nicholas Cheney, die together in their ancestral home on the Cornish coast, it looks like suicide. The grieving relatives gather together to discuss the fate of Barcombe Hall, when another shocking death occurs. Inspector Rutledge, who is still shell-shocked from his experiences in the Great War, is sent from Scotland Yard to investigate. Rutledge is soon convinced that the answers to this baffling case lie within the family’s secret history.

Both History and Mystery

Todd writes the tale of a detective, back from the First World War and struggling with his own demons. As a "Who Dun It", this book stands on its own..Show More ». Without throwing out unnecessary Red Herrings, Todd keeps the question of the perpetrator (if there really is one) up in the air until very close to the end.

Even better, he paints a, presumably, accurate picture of rural English life between the wars. I've spent much time studying that period, but only as a historian. I, more or less, understand the economic forces that drove events. The personalities that dominated the country are part of my every day vocabulary. To read about the lives and attitudes of those who lived there and then, how they looked at those returning from the war, how they lived with a changing world and where they would look for leadership.

Search the Dark

Dorset is the latest setting for the talents of Inspector Ian Rutledge, a veteran of the First World War still haunted, literally, by his actions. Indeed, his personal ghost only serves to complicate things as his inner doubts blend into the trauma of the case.

Tenacity wins the day!

Inspector Ian Rutledge is presented with a mystery that could result in an innocent man's death by hanging if he doesn't find out the true story. A c..Show More »asualty of WWI, the man thinks he spies his wife and children on a railway platform and sets about to find them. The woman turns up dead and all assume that he is the guilty party. But where are the children? Where is the other man that was with the woman? Rutledge sees a man haunted by his experience in WWI, much as Rutledge himself is. He'll set about to find the truth and, in doing so, unearths a more complicated mystery. His superiors throw roadblocks in his way, but Rutledge is tenacious at the least. What I love most about Rutledge is his tenacity. He never gives up, always going one more time to this witness, or one more time to that witness. He is a wonderful exercise in analysis. Of course, he has some help from his ghostly nemesis, Hamish, who at times harangues him to the point of near insanity and at other times provides him with the direction he needs. I missed Simon Prebble's narration in this installment. Samuel Gillies was quite good, and I would enjoy his narration again. But Prebble is the absolute best.

Legacy of the Dead: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

The weathered remains of Eleanor Gray are found on a Scottish mountainside, and her mother, the domineering Lady Maude Gray, requires delicate treatment. This is a case that will lead Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard to Scotland, where his harrowing journey to find the truth will drag him back through the fires of his past into secrets that still have the power to kill.

What's up, Audible??? Why would you do this to us?

I've listened to all the Inspector Ian Rutledge books leading up to this one and several later ones before I realized it was a series. I enjoyed the..Show More »m very much. The problem is, this is the first one that ends on a cliffhanger, so I hopped on here to get the next one right away, only to find that Audible skips over the next 5 books. I'm so angry right now I could spit! Just be warned before you listen to this one. You're gonna be left hanging.

Watchers of Time

Charles Todd brings his classic mystery series to a new level of intensity and intrigue. The year is 1919, and Ian Rutledge is a fragile yet courageous former soldier searching for his place in a post-war world. Now a Scotland Yard detective, Rutledge is called upon to probe a murder in the small Norfolk town of Osterley - but he soon discovers that the crime may be connected to one of the greatest disasters of all time…

#5 RECENTLY RELEASED..HANG IN & GROW WITH RUTLEDGE

I don't know why Audible.com repeatedly asks this question in its Guided Review. It's rather presumptive to assume, as much as books cost today - esp..Show More »ecially audiobooks - that most readers/listeners would buy both formats. Of the close to 2,000 audiobooks I own and 10,000 print books that I've read in my lifetime, I only have doubles on, maybe 5, works. This is not one of them.

A Fearsome Doubt

In 1912 Ian Rutledge watched as a man was condemned to hang for the murders of elderly women. Rutledge helped gather the evidence that sent Ben Shaw to the gallows. And when justice was done, Rutledge closed the door on the case. But Shaw was not easily forgotten. Now, seven years later, that grim trial returns in the form of Ben Shaw's widow Nell, bringing Rutledge evidence she is convinced will prove her husband's innocence. It's a belief fraught with peril, threatening both Rutledge's professional stature and his faith in his judgment. But there is a darker reason for Rutledge's reluctance.

Does Ian Rutledge Ever Get a Grip?

I've listened to several, and after this one I'm done. Ian Rutledge is an emotional mess, not particularly brilliant as a detective, and the relentles..Show More »s misery he carries around with him is getting old. I get that he's suffering from shell shock and I don't want to seem heartless in my assessment of the character, but there's simply no change in him, from book to book. He isn't a satisfying character.

A Cold Treachery: Inspector Ian Rutledge, Book 7

Called out by Scotland Yard into the teeth of a violent blizzard, Inspector Ian Rutledge finds himself confronted with one of the most savage murders he has ever encountered. Rutledge might have expected such unspeakable carnage on the World War I battlefields, where he’d lost much of his soul - and his sanity - but not in an otherwise peaceful farm kitchen in remote Urskdale. Someone has murdered the Elcott family at their table without the least sign of struggle.

A Long Shadow: Inspector Ian Rutledge, Book 8

Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ian Rutledge brought the Great War home with him, and its horrors haunt him still. On New Year’s Eve 1919, he finds a brass cartridge casing, similar to countless others he’d seen on the battlefield, on the steps of a friend’s house. Soon there are more, purposely placed where he is sure to discover them. Unexpectedly drawn away from London to a small Northamptonshire village, he investigates the strange case of a local constable shot with a bow and arrow.

Excellent book--but read this series in order!

I noticed that only one person has rated this book before now, and appears not to have liked it at all. If that listener was unfamiliar with the whole..Show More » series, it would be easy to understand how difficult it might have been to make sense out of this story. I love this series, and I loved this book. But it is perhaps one that most depends upon knowing and understanding the character of Ian Rutledge up till this point, to allow the book to be interesting and meaningful.

Ian Rutledge is a veteran returned from WWI, injured in body, mind and soul. He feels cautious of other people, has been rejected by the woman he had been engaged to before the war, and has come back to work at Scotland Yard, where he seems to be something of a loner, a man who works best by following his own intuititions. Indeed, he is not exactly "alone," because he suffers from Shell Shock (what we would call PTSD today), and carries within him, the haunting voice of an executed war comrade, along with torturous guilt and memories.

This book possibly is the strongest one in the series, in terms of directly and indirectly alluding to the internal ghosts he is struggling with. The book begins on New Year's Eve, where a woman is doing a seance-like sitting, trying to evoke the dead--which so unnerves him that he has to leave early. He finds shell casings there (and other places) which provoke anxious memories for him. And then his job takes him north, to a spirit-ridden area, where tight-lipped people won't go into the woods, nor reveal why to him because of something that occurred in their past.

The writing of this whole series and especially this book is just word-perfect. I never want one to end. I have read each one in paper, and I'm now coming back to listen--which is a very satisfying experience, as I hear details and grasp more of the psychological aspects of this time in history, and the narration is quite good as well. But even though I recommend this book with as many stars as one could give it, I fully believe this is one book best read only after getting a better sense of what the series/character is about. Otherwise, I can easily understand how disappointing it might have been to listen to--might not have made as much sense in many ways. However, I found it as good as when I first read it, and if one follows the series, this book will most likely be greatly enjoyed at many levels--historical, psychological, good mystery and very unique main character.

A False Mirror: Inspector Ian Rutledge, Book 9

An officer who served with Rutledge in the trenches of France before being sent back to England under suspicious circumstances has now been accused of savagely beating the husband of the woman he still loves. The suspect has taken the wife hostage, threatening to kill her and her maid unless Rutledge takes charge of the investigation. Although the case painfully mirrors Rutledge's own past and the love he lost to another man, he cannot refuse it.

NOT ONE OF TODD'S BEST EFFORTS

I love the Inspector Ian Rutledge series but sometimes Charles Todd drops the ball. That's the case here. Nothing about this story makes any sense. ..Show More » Why would Scotland Yard waste valuable resources by sending one of its best detectives to a small country village at the demand of some guy holding two women hostage? Especially since he's unlikely to hurt one of them because he publicly professes a great love for the married woman? While the book has the usual Todd unexpected plot twists, the whole thing just goes on too long. Rutledge is allowed entry into the house several times, yet he never makes a move to overcome the kidnapper. He even allows food to be delivered after several days instead of starving them out. IF anyone can deal with this improbable story, the book should be abridged since so much of it adds nothing to plot line. Also, narrator Samuel Gilles is no where near as good as Simon Prebble who has done most of the Charles Todd works that I've enjoyed. Gilles' Scottish burr for Rutledge's nemesis, Hamish, is so over the top that half of the time I couldn't understand him, Plus Gilles does nothing with the other characters - they all meld together, sounding alike, making the dialogue hard to follow. Definitely not worth the price of admission.

A Pale Horse

Late on a spring night in 1920, five boys cross the Yorkshire dales to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, intent on raising the Devil. Instead, they stumble over the Devil himself, sitting there watching them. Terrified, they run for their lives, leaving behind a book on alchemy stolen from their schoolmaster. The next morning, a body is discovered in the cloisters of the abbey--a man swathed in a hooded cloak and wearing a gas mask.

Outstanding author - Outstanding narrator

This is the third book in the series I've heard, the first being the more recent A Lonely Death. (Audible.com special. It caught my eye.) I thoroughly..Show More » enjoyed it, as well as the next book in the series, The Confession. That being the most recent one available, I looked at earlier productions but found I had developed a loyalty to Simon Prebble's narration. I downloaded A Pale Horse and was not disappointed. As an author, I can't help but be a little ticked off at Todd's ability to consistently weave a multi-layered, yet highly "readable" story. I wish he'd cut it out. He's making the rest of us look bad. And of course, Simon is simply outstanding as a narrator. One of the best I've heard.

A Matter of Justice: Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries

After two London men end their business partnership, one of them is savagely murdered in a medieval tithe barn on his estate in Somerset. Investigating the killing, Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge discovers that the victim was universally despised in Cambury - even the victim's wife and the town's police inspector are suspect. And yet in London circles, the man was highly regarded. What triggered his death?

Entertaining procedural through the end

This is my first listen to one of Charles Todd's mystery series. I chose it after a marathon of three of James Lee Burke's novels, needing a change o..Show More »f pace from Burke's contemporary and considerably more violent police procedurals. Like all good series writers, Todd brings the neophyte up with speed with his characters by moderate amounts of judiciously placed flashbacks and reflections. I enjoyed the post-WWI settings of London and surrounding villages, with side trips to St. Ann's. I enjoyed "knowing" at the outset the history of the murdered victim, and then listening to Rutledge try to piece it all together. Rutledge was a fine character, doggedly persistent in uncovering the truth when he could have easily washed his hands of the crime once a trial-worthy suspect was found. Like other mysteries I've enjoyed, I wound up listening to the last two hours late at night, unable to sleep because Rutledge was so close to revealing the oddly intertwined relationships that led to the murder. I simply couldn't wait to know how it all would play out in the end. It was difficult for me to keep track of all the characters through audio (some considerably minor but they still pop up frequently), and so I might have lost some of the character development that I usually enjoy in these well-paced novels. It was challenging to believe that the murdered victim might have actually had some redeeming qualities: I don't know if Todd just wanted to confound the reader/Rutledge in the quest to find the murderer or if the point was to highlight the strange confluence of guilt and evil. In any case, it added to the tension and kept me glued to my earbuds.

I love the narration of Simon Prebble who has an uncanny ability to modulate his voice just enough to discern the different characters without making them into caricatures. I highly recommend this particular novel in the series and hope to listen to some of Inspector Rutledge's adventures

The Red Door: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

June 1920. In a house with a red door lies the body of a woman who has been bludgeoned to death. Rumor has it that two years earlier, she'd painted that door to welcome her husband back from the Front - only he never came home. Meanwhile, in London, a man suffering from a mysterious illness first goes missing and then just as suddenly reappears. He is unable to explain his recovery. Inspector Ian Rutledge must solve the cases.

Too Many Twists

This is one of my favorite mystery series. Its protagonist is unique and, in most of the books (this one is an exception), the physical and (especiall..Show More »y) the psychological setting of post-WWI England are engrossing. Simon Prebble's narrations are excellent.

That said, this entry is disappointing. After a promising and intriguing start (maybe the first 1/3 of the book), the story loses focus. Inspector Rutledge is constantly crank-starting his motor car as he travels back and forth across southern England multiple times following the threads of three cases. He gets exhausted and so did I. I'm all for unexpected twists in a whodunnit, but in this one the twists tangle into a Gordian knot that is totally frustrating (to say nothing of unbelievable).

If you have never tried this series, you should read the first one ("A Test of Wills") first; a superb book, it lays groundwork for the main character(s) that is essential. After that may be helpful to read the series in sequence, but I haven't and have still enjoyed them. And I'd advise skipping this particular entry.

A Lonely Death: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

Three men have been murdered in a Sussex village, and Scotland Yard has been called in. It's a baffling case. The victims are soldiers who survived the horrors of the Great War only to meet a ghastly end in the quiet English countryside two years later. Each had been garroted, with small ID disks left in their mouths. But even Scotland Yard's presence doesn't deter this vicious and clever killer.

The best in the series

Inspector Ian Rutledge races against time to solve a series of murders, the victims all being men who had fought together in the Great War. This kill..Show More »er is particularly sinister, much more sinister than any one that Rutledge had yet come up against. Clues left by the killer send Rutledge on wild-goose chases across the English countryside. Meanwhile, his own experience in the Great War continues to haunt him and come between him and his love for a woman who understands him too well. Margaret has her own ghosts to deal with and the reader's heart aches for them both. For me, this was a particularly sad novel, not just because of the deaths, but because of the lives that try to go on in spite of the deaths, because of the post-war weariness, the sense that it will be years before lives can be normal again, and the idea that for some, life will never be normal again.
But the mystery abides and once Rutledge figures out who the killer really is, there's no turning back; only a relentless struggle to stop him from killing again. For me, this installment is the best in the series. The characters are fully fleshed out now, and Todd's writing is often at times poetic, making me wish I had the book so I could underline some of the passages. I hope I don't have to wait too long for another installment.

The Confession: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery

Declaring he needs to clear his conscience, a dying man walks into Scotland Yard and confesses that he killed his cousin five years earlier during the Great War. When Inspector Ian Rutledge presses for details, the man evades his questions, revealing only that he hails from a village east of London. With little information and no body to open an official inquiry, Rutledge begins to look into the case on his own. Less than two weeks later, the alleged killer’s body is found floating in the Thames, a bullet in the back of his head.

Most exciting by Todd Yet

This is was one of the most exciting books I have ever listened to. Simon Prebble does a perfect job of the voices and brings the whole story alive...Show More »r/>In many ways this is almost a gothic novel - the air of brooding and unknown evil hanging over the Essex marshes and the little village of Furnham and the house River's Edge makes the book electric with suspense. I couldn't stop listening to it. Rutledge has to trace the murders back to their beginning over 20 years before the start of the murder which attracts Rutledge's attention. From a man coming to Scotland Yard to confess to a muder he didn't commit, Rutledge must finally go back over 20 years to find the first murder committed by this serial killer. Is is amazing to watch him untangle it all.

The solution to the murders will come as a big surprise and you will have a hard time figuring out. It is amazing the way Inspector Rutledge puts his case together and all the strange twists and turns it takes. With all the driving back and forth he does, I wonder the man gets any sleep at all.

The plotting is excellent and bit by bit we uncover the history of this reclusive town on the River Hawking. Each character is well fleshed out and we can picture them in their cottages so vivid is the characterization of each villagel Inspector Rutledge meets.

I wish Audible would publish all his books in audio but I am going back and reread all the books in the series from the start.

Proof of Guilt: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery, Book 15

London, summer 1920. An unidentified body appears to have been run down by a motorcar and Ian Rutledge is leading the investigation to uncover what happened. While the signs point to murder, vital questions remain: Who is the victim? And where, exactly, was he killed? One small clue leads Rutledge to a firm built by two families, famous for producing and selling the world's best Madeira wine. Lewis French, the current head of the English enterprise, is missing. But is he the dead man? And does either his fiancée or his jilted former lover have anything to do with his disappearance - or possible death?

Disappointing

The end was entirely unsatisfactory. I couldn't believe it was over and so many loose ends. I listened to the last chapter twice to see if I was missi..Show More »ng something.

Hunting Shadows: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery, Book 16

A society wedding at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire becomes a crime scene when a man is murdered. After another body is found, the baffled local constabulary turns to Scotland Yard. Though the second crime had a witness, her description of the killer is so strange it's unbelievable. Despite his experience, Inspector Ian Rutledge has few answers of his own. The victims are so different that there is no rhyme or reason to their deaths. Nothing logically seems to connect them - except the killer. As the investigation widens, a clear suspect emerges. But for Rutledge, the facts still don't add up, leaving him to question his own judgment.

Another great Ian Rutledge book!

It's hard to say much more about Charles Todd (and character Ian Rutledge from Scotland Yard) than has already been said. At this point, I can happily..Show More » say that this whole series is one of my great favorites, and this new book completely lives up to my expectations.

It involves Rutledge going to the Fen country to help the local constabulary work two murders that would seem to be related, but for which there are no obvious connections that they can figure out. This is a well-laid out mystery--with lots of twists and turns.It seems to have more characters than most of the books which gives it interest, though a little hard to keep sorted in the beginning.

The only thing that left me a bit puzzled is that in all the others, Hamish (a voice from a dead soldier that Rutledge always hears in his head, as a result of shellshock) in greatly minimized. In past books, Hamish has had a greater prominence--something I rather enjoyed because it gave insight into other dimensions of Rutledge. Perhaps this is a sign that Rutledge is progressing away from his shellshock, but I found myself hoping it was not because they (Charles Todd--mother and son team) are planning to write him out eventually.

This is a very good mystery, with well drawn out characters--lots of interest, and even some history about the Fen country and WWI put in as well. And Simon Prebble is a perfect narrator! Highly recommend!